David Cameron may have to cancel Israel visit over strikes

British PM and Pope may be forced to call off scheduled visits as Israeli
diplomats strike

High-profile figures, including the Pope and Prime Minister David Cameron, may have to call off official visits to IsraelPhoto: Bloomberg,Getty

By Inna Lazareva, Tel Aviv

5:55PM GMT 07 Mar 2014

High-profile figures, including the Pope and Prime Minister David Cameron, may have to call off official visits to Israel due a strike led by the unlikeliest of culprits - Israel’s own diplomats.

Mr Cameron was set to address the Israeli Knesset next week, but the strike led by diplomats in Jerusalem and abroad may mean that the visit is cancelled.

The Israeli embassy in London said it has spoken to representatives in 10 Downing Street and told them the Israeli foreign ministry cannot facilitate any visits at present due to the ongoing labour dispute.

The British Embassy in Tel Aviv declined to comment.

Mr Cameron had previously cancelled a trip to Israel last month due to flooding in the UK.

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Pope Francis was due to come for a historic trip to the Holy Land in late May, after a personal invitation by Israeli President Shimon Peres. A source from the Israeli foreign ministry said that a preliminary visit by a delegation from the Vatican due to take place next week has been called off, while the Times of Israel daily reported that Pope Francis has been forced to cancel his visit altogether.

During the last round of the foreign ministry’s strike in the summer of 2013, the Israeli prime minister instructed the Mossad and the Israeli Defence Forces to organise official state visits.

Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut a lonesome figure as he descended from his plane in LA airport with no one from the Israeli Consulate to greet him. His large entourage of staff was left stranded on the runway for some time due to lack of transport provided by the Israeli diplomats.

While they usually toe the government line, the Israeli diplomats are protesting an ongoing dispute concerning salaries, “discriminatory tax policy” and lack of compensation for trailing spouses and children.

As Israel faces “an unparalleled range of challenges in the international arena” including boycott initiatives, the diplomats at the forefront of the efforts to counter these trends feel that their work is “met with nothing but scorn by the finance ministry bureaucrats, who know little about the importance of diplomacy to national security”, said a statement from the foreign ministry.